Computerized apparatus and method for awarding credits to persons for travel related purchases

ABSTRACT

A computerized system provides incentives for travel agents and similar persons to book particular travel-related reservations. The system achieves this by awarding cumulative credits to travel agents based upon bookings of travel-related reservations. The system receives a booking format which identifies a travel-related reservation. The system further receives a code which identifies a travel agent or other person who entered the travel-related reservation. Upon receiving the travel-related reservation, the system assigns cumulative credits to the travel agent identified by the code based upon the travel-related reservation. Travel agents can thus build up credits over time based upon their bookings of travel-related reservations and use those credits to receive a particular award or prize.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for providingincentives to persons who book travel-related reservations by awardingcredits to those persons based upon the travel-related reservations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Travel agents and similar persons book most travel-relatedreservations. As an example, consider hotel reservations. Many customersbook hotel reservations through a travel agent when the customer, forexample, reserves airline tickets. Travel agents have a certain amountof discretion to recommend various hotels to travelers. Therefore, hotelcompanies have a strong interest in providing incentives for travelagents to recommend their hotels.

[0003] An incentives system that provides rewards to travel agents on arandom basis is the World of Winners sweepstakes program, developed byRadisson Hotels International, Inc., the assignee of the presentapplication. In the World of Winners sweepstakes program, for example,every tenth reservation booked in a particular hotel results in thetravel agent receiving a reward or prize. The random nature of the Worldof Winners sweepstakes programs, however, reduces the incentive oftravel agents to book travel-related reservations for particular hotels.When participating in such programs, travel agents do not know withcertainty whether booking a hotel reservation for a particular hotelwill result in an award.

[0004] Some systems have provided incentives to travel agencies based onbooked reservations. These systems, however, do not necessarily providepersonal incentives to individual travel agents, since the systems arenot on-line and the agency itself receives any awards or prizes based onbooked reservations. Companies providing travel services thus do notnecessarily gain significant benefits from these programs, since theindividual travel agents have much discretion in making reservations andare not necessarily motivated by incentives and awards for the agency.

[0005] Therefore, a need exists for a system which provides incentivesfor travel agents and similar persons to book particular travel-relatedreservations by awarding cumulative credits to those travel agents basedupon the bookings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] A computerized system and method awards credits to persons whobook travel-related reservations. The system receives a booking formatwhich includes a plurality of fields. At least one of the fieldsincludes information identifying a travel-related reservation. Thesystem further transmits a code which identifies a person who created orinitiated the travel-related reservation. Upon receiving thetravel-related reservation, the system assigns cumulative credits to theperson identified by the code based upon the travel-related reservation.Therefore, persons who enter travel-related reservations may build upcredits over time and use those credits to receive a particularincentive such as an award or prize.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating how a system whichimplements the present invention typically interfaces with a reservationsystem.

[0008]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a booking process.

[0009]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a process for awarding credits.

[0010]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process for calculating credits.

[0011]FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system which administrates creditsand awarding of prizes.

[0012]FIG. 6 is an example of a user interface, showing an “unsuccessfulenrollment” message, for a system that implements the present invention.

[0013]FIG. 7 is an example of a user interface, showing a “successfulenrollment” message, for a system that implements the present invention.

[0014]FIG. 8 is an example of a user interface, showing a message forcredits earned following enrollment, for a system that implements thepresent invention.

[0015]FIG. 9 is an example of a hard copy report of credits awarded to atravel agent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0016] In the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form apart hereof and in which is shown by way of illustration a specificembodiment in which the invention may be practiced. This embodiment isdescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, and it is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and that structural or logical changes maybe made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thefollowing detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by theappended claims.

Overview

[0017] The present invention is an awards system that providesincentives to travel agents or other persons who book travel-relatedreservations. The system typically interacts with a travel agent on-lineto assign credits for travel-related reservations and thus provide thetravel agent with immediate feedback regarding the credits earned. Atravel agent can continually earn credits during a period of time. Eachcredit earned by the travel agent is added into a cumulative totalnumber of credits for the travel agent.

[0018] Therefore, the travel agent can “build up” credits over time andthen “cash in” the credits for an award. The available awards aretypically structured so that, as the value of the award increases, morecredits are required to earn the award. An award offered to a travelagent may include, for example, a free stay at an hotel or a free travelpackage. The present invention thus provides incentives for travelagents to repeatedly book particular travel-related reservations, whichcan significantly increase bookings for those companies which providethe awards.

[0019] A key to making the present invention commercially viableinvolves determining how to implement the invention. Since most travelagents work through reservation systems (described below) that arealready established, implementing such a system involves determining howto interact with the existing reservation systems.

[0020] A commercial system which has achieved a successfulimplementation of the present invention is the LOOK TO BOOK travel agentincentives program, developed by Radisson Hotels International, Inc.(hereinafter Radisson), the assignee of the present application. Theincentives which the LOOK TO BOOK program provides to travel agents, andthe corresponding increase in travel-related reservations, are evidentfrom the following statistics. After introduction of the LOOK TO BOOKprogram by Radisson, travel agents began immediately enrolling in theprogram at a rate of approximately 350 travel agents per day. As ofOctober 1993, approximately 52,000 travel agents have enrolled in theLOOK TO BOOK program, which is about one-sixth of the world's populationof automated travel agents. Furthermore, travel agent bookings forRadisson have increased by approximately 60% following introduction ofthe LOOK TO BOOK program. This has occurred without any particularchange in advertising or other marketing efforts for Radisson. A travelagent research project conducted for Radisson by a local universityshowed that travel agents were much more willing to book Radisson Hotelsbecause of the LOOK TO BOOK program.

Travel Reservations Network

[0021]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing how a system which implementsthe present invention typically interfaces with a reservation system. Atravel agent uses a terminal 10 to enter a travel-related reservation.The present application describes the invention with respect to a travelagent reservation system for illustrative purposes. Persons other thantravel agents may also enter travel-related reservations. Travel-relatedreservations include, for example, reservations for the following:cruise ships; car rental; lodging; theater; travel insurance; airlinetickets; and trains.

[0022] A travel agent terminal 10 transmits the travel-relatedreservation to a computerized reservation system 12. ComputerizedReservation Systems (CRS) are well known in the art and include, forexample, CRS's known by the following trademarks and companies: AMADEUS;SABRE; WORLDSPAN; SYSTEM ONE; APOLLO; GEMINI; GALILEO; and AXESS.

[0023] A CRS allows a travel agent or other person to enter atravel-related reservation in a particular availability format. Anavailability format depends on the type of CRS used and typicallycomprises a plurality of fields joined together to form a databaseelement. An availability format may include, for example, fields for thefollowing information: rate availability; hotel chain code; city code;arrival date; checkout date; number of nights; category code; actioncode; and all rates. An example of an availability format is shown online 100 in FIG. 6.

[0024] A conversion system 14 receives an availability format, whichidentifies a travel-related reservation, from CRS 12. Conversion system14 then converts the travel-related reservation contained within anavailability format into a standard booking format. An example of aconversion system is the PIERRE computer system, developed by Radisson,the assignee of the present application. Therefore, regardless of whichCRS 12 a travel agent uses, conversion system 14 preferably convertsavailability formats into a standardized booking format. An example of abooking format is shown on line 102 in FIG. 6. In addition to receivingtravel-related reservations from a travel agent terminal, via a CRS,awards system 16 can also receive travel-related reservations from othersources, such as the following examples: a phone (modem) link; anautomatic teller machine; a kiosk, and an interactive television system.

[0025] Conversion system 14 can then transmit a booking format to aparticular reservation facility 18. Reservation facility 18 may include,for example, a particular hotel, cruise ship line, or car rental companyidentified by a travel-related reservation contained within a bookingformat.

Awards System

[0026] The present invention is preferably implemented by an awardssystem 16 which interacts with conversion system 14, as shown in FIG. 1.Awards system 16 receives information regarding travel-relatedreservations from conversion system 14 and awards credits (also referredto as “points”) to travel agents or other persons who book thetravel-related reservations.

[0027]FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a booking process, which istypically a main processing loop, of awards system 16. Awards system 16typically first processes a booking format at step 20. At step 22,awards system 16 checks the booking format for an identification of atravel agent or other person who entered the travel-related reservation.If the booking format does not have such an identification, awardssystem 16 then calculates credits which would have otherwise beenassigned to the person (step 24) and then displays a message (step 26)to the person at terminal 10, indicating the number of credits whichwere lost by the individual. An example of a user interface for thistransaction is shown in FIG. 6. Lines 104 in FIG. 6 show an example ofan “unsuccessful enrollment” message.

[0028] If the booking format includes an identification, awards system16 checks to determine if the identification is a new travel agent notalready within a database for awards system 16 (step 28). Awards system16 typically receives an identification of a travel agent or otherperson from one of the fields of a booking format. For example, a travelagent can enter a character string identification into a specialinstruction (SI) field 110 (see FIG. 7) of a booking format. In theexample shown, the character string comprises the first initial, middleinitial, and last name of the travel agent. Other character strings orcodes may be used as an identification of the travel agent or otherperson who made the booking. Alternatively, awards system 16 may receivean identification from a log-in identifier corresponding to a travelagent or other person. In some systems which may interface awards system16, a person who enters bookings must log on to the system with anidentifier. Therefore, awards system 16 can receive such a log-inidentifier and will not require a separate identification of the travelagent or other person.

[0029] If the identification is not a new travel agent, awards system 16then calculates the credits (step 30) and displays the credits awarded(step 32) to the travel agent, along with a corresponding message. Anexample of a user interface for this transaction is shown in FIG. 8.Lines 108 in FIG. 8 show an example of a message for indicating thenumber of credits awarded. The “0” redeemable credits shown in lines 108of FIG. 8 preferably becomes incremented with each booking to show acumulative credits awarded to the corresponding travel agent or similarperson. Awards system 16 preferably stores cumulative credits, as showndisplayed in FIG. 8, from one booking to the next so that awards system16 can increment or decrement total credits as new booking are made. Inaddition to displaying credits or points awarded directly on-line to atravel agent, as shown in FIG. 8, awards system 16 can “park” suchinformation in the background so that credits awarded information isaccessible to a travel agent via a terminal.

[0030] Otherwise, awards system 16 determines at step 34 if the travelagent is eligible for the program. If the travel agent is not eligible,awards system 16 displays a standard message at step 40, such as lines104 in FIG. 6. If the travel agent is eligible, awards system 16 thencalculates the credits (step 36) and displays a new enrollment message(step 38). An example of an interface for this transaction is shown inFIG. 7. Lines 106 in FIG. 7 show an example of a “new enrollment”message.

[0031]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a process for awarding or assigningcredits. At step 42, awards system 16 begins processing a travel-relatedreservation. Awards system 16 verifies the credits with the actualtravel-related reservation at step 44. Verification is performed toprevent fraud and to ensure that the credits are issued for atravel-related reservation which was actually used by a customerrequesting the reservation. When awards system 16 initially assignscredits, those credits are typically classified as “pending” untilawards system 16 performs a verification process. A travel agentpreferably may not “cash in” credits while the credits are classified aspending. If awards system 16 determines in the verification that thecredits comply with the actual reservation (step 46), then awards system16 converts the credits from pending to redeemable or spendable at step48. Otherwise, awards system 16 typically transfers the credits to anerror queue at step 50 for manual processing.

[0032] A verification of the credits is typically based upon both anevent and time. For example, with respect to hotel reservations, awardssystem 16 typically waits until a customer who requested the hotelreservation checks out of the corresponding hotel. Subsequently, awardssystem 16 typically waits for a predetermined period of time, such asten days, to verify that the customer indeed used the hotel reservation.Finally, after the waiting period, awards system 16 converts the pendingcredits to redeemable credits. Alternatively, verification may be basedsolely upon either an event or time.

[0033]FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a process for calculating credits.Awards system 16 typically awards credits based upon the revenue for aparticular travel-related reservation booking, which occurs at step 52.Other types of calculations for credits are possible. For example,awards system 16 may simply award a predetermined number of credits forany particular booking. For lodging reservations, awards system 16 may,for example, award credits based on how many nights of lodging acustomer has requested. At step 54, awards system 16 determines whetherbonus credits apply. Bonus credits supply additional incentives to thetravel agents by increasing the number of credits that the travel agentmay receive for a particular booking. If bonus credits apply, awardssystem 16 then calculates the bonus credits at step 56 for eachparticular bonus program. Awards system 16 also calculates the standardcredits available for the booking (step 58).

[0034] Awards system 16 uses bonus programs to award additional creditsto a travel agent based upon a predetermined activity in conjunctionwith a booking. Examples of predetermined activities, which may increasecredits awarded, include the following: a product booked by a travelagent (for example, a travel package); lodging booked by a travel agent(for example, a type of hotel); when a travel agent books thetravel-related reservation; when a customer who requested thetravel-related reservation uses the travel-related reservation; how acustomer pays for the travel-related reservation (for example, using aparticular type of credit card); how a customer guarantees thetravel-related reservation; a class of a customer (for example, age); ora class of a travel agent (for example, travel agent credit level orgroup affiliation).

[0035] At step 60, awards system 16 determines whether the travel agentwho entered the reservation is a new travel agent or a travel agentalready within a database for awards system 16. If the travel agent isalready in a database, awards system 16 calculates the total pendingcredits at step 62 and then retrieves the total redeemable credits forthe corresponding travel agent at step 64. Awards system 16 alsopreferably modifies cumulative credits as bookings are adjusted orcancelled.

[0036]FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing how awards system 16 interfaceswith an administrative system 94 for administrating and awarding prizesbased upon the credits. In addition to on-line reporting of creditsthrough CRS's, awards system 16 may also generate printed documentsreporting credits via system 94. An example of a hard copy report ofcredits is shown in FIG. 9.

[0037] Periodically, typically every 30 days, awards system 16 transmitsa storage medium (step 66) which includes information related toprocessing within awards system 16. A storage medium may be transmittedto an outside vendor or, alternatively, functions of administrativesystem 94 may be performed by awards system 16. Submodule 70 receivesthe information and performs audit programs on the data. A travel agentmaster file 72 preferably maintains a database of the travel agentsstored within awards system 16 and the corresponding credits awarded tothe travel agents. File 72 also preferably maintains identifiers foragencies which engage the travel agents, which may be work addresses fortravel agents. Submodule 78 adds new travel agents to the master file.Submodule 86 performs the function of sending enrollment kits to the newenrollees, which includes information on the program and rules forreceiving prizes and awards based upon credits earned.

[0038] Submodule 74 receives and processes mail and telephone orders.Submodule 76 receives certificate orders. A travel agent typicallysubmits an order for the purpose of redeeming earned credits for anaward or prize. Submodule 80 updates the database for new addresses ofenrollees. Submodule 82 updates the master file with new creditsawarded, based upon credits calculated by submodule 84. Submodule 90generates summary reports of credits and, based upon this information,submodule 92 generates statements of credits for reporting to travelagents. These statements are then typically mailed to participatingtravel agents in order to report their credits. At step 68, system 94periodically, typically every 30 days, sends updated information toawards systems 16.

[0039] While the present invention has been described in connection withthe preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that manymodifications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, andthis application is intended to cover any adaptations or variationsthereof. It is manifestly intended that this invention be limited onlyby the claims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computerized system for awarding credits topersons who book travel-related reservations, comprising: a) receivemeans for receiving information, comprising: i) means for receiving abooking format which includes a plurality of fields, one or more of thefields including information identifying a travel-related reservation;and ii) means for receiving a code identifying a person who booked thetravel-related reservation; and b) record means for awarding incentivesbased on travel-related reservations, comprising: i) means forspecifying an identification of the person corresponding to the code;and ii) assignment means for assigning cumulative credits to the personidentified by the code based upon the travel-related reservation.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the record means further comprisesverification means for classifying the credits as pending credits untila predetermined event occurs and for converting the pending credits toredeemable credits after the occurrence of the event.
 3. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the record means further comprises verification meansfor classifying the credits as pending credits for a predeterminedamount of time after the assignment of the credits and for convertingthe pending credits to redeemable credits after the predetermined amountof time.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the record means furthercomprises: a) first verification means for classifying the credits aspending credits until a predetermined event occurs; and b) secondverification means for maintaining the credits as pending credits for apredetermined amount of time after the occurrence of the event and forconverting the pending credits to redeemable credits after thepredetermined amount of time.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the meansfor receiving a code comprises means for receiving the code from one ofthe fields of the booking format.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein themeans for receiving a code comprises means for receiving the code from aspecial instruction field of the booking format.
 7. The system of claim5 wherein the means for receiving a code comprises means for receivingthe code from a log-in identifier related to the person.
 8. The systemof claim 1 wherein the record means further comprises report means forreporting the cumulative credits assigned to the person.
 9. The systemof claim 8 wherein the report means comprises means for reportingon-line the cumulative credits assigned to the person.
 10. The system ofclaim 8 wherein the report means comprises means for reporting in a hardcopy format the cumulative credits assigned to the person.
 11. Thesystem of claim 8 wherein the report means comprises means for reportinga cumulative total pending credits assigned to the person.
 12. Thesystem of claim 8 wherein the report means comprises means for reportinga cumulative total redeemable credits assigned to the person.
 13. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the assignment means comprises means forassigning the credits to the person based upon the monetary value of thetravel-related reservation.
 14. The system of claim 1 wherein theassignment means comprises means for identifying on-line whether theperson has previously received credits.
 15. The system of claim 1wherein the assignment means comprises means for assigning bonus creditsto the person based upon a predetermined activity in conjunction withthe travel-related reservation.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein theassignment means comprises means for assigning the bonus credits to theperson based upon one or more of the following: a product booked by theperson; lodging booked by the person; when the person books thetravel-related reservation; when a customer who requested thetravel-related reservation uses the travel-related reservation; how thecustomer pays for the travel-related reservation; how the customerguarantees the travel-related reservation; a class of the customer; or aclass of the person.
 17. The system of claim 1 wherein the means forreceiving a code comprises means for receiving a character stringidentifying the person.
 18. The system of claim 1 wherein the means forspecifying an identification of the person comprises means for linkingthe code to an identifier for an agency which engages the person. 19.The system of claim 1 wherein the assignment means comprises means formodifying the credits in response to adjustment or cancellation of thetravel-related reservation.
 20. The system of claim 1 wherein theassignment means comprises means for storing a cumulative number ofcredits assigned to the person following entry of the travel-relatedreservation.
 21. A computerized method of awarding credits to personswho book travel-related reservations, comprising the steps of: a)receiving information, comprising the steps of: i) receivingelectronically a booking format which includes a plurality of fields,one or more of the fields including information identifying atravel-related reservation; and ii) receiving electronically a codeidentifying a person who entered the travel-related reservation; and b)awarding incentives based on travel-related reservations, comprising thesteps of: i) specifying electronically an identification of the personcorresponding to the code; and ii) assigning electronically cumulativecredits to the person identified by the code based upon thetravel-related reservation.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein theawarding incentives step further comprises the step of classifying thecredits as pending credits until a predetermined event occurs andconverting the pending credits to redeemable credits after theoccurrence of the event.
 23. The method of claim 21 wherein the awardingincentives step further comprises the step of classifying the credits aspending credits for a predetermined amount of time after the assignmentof the credits and converting the pending credits to redeemable creditsafter the predetermined amount of time.
 24. The method of claim 21wherein the awarding incentives step further comprises the steps of: a)classifying the credits as pending credits until a predetermined eventoccurs; and b) maintaining the credits as pending credits for apredetermined amount of time after the occurrence of the event andconverting the pending credits to redeemable credits after thepredetermined amount of time.
 25. The method of claim 21 wherein thereceiving a code step comprises the step of receiving the code from oneof the fields of the booking format.
 26. The method of claim 25 whereinthe receiving a code step comprises the step of receiving the code froma special instruction field of the booking format.
 27. The method ofclaim 25 wherein the receiving a code step comprises the step ofreceiving the code from a log-in identifier related to the person. 28.The method of claim 21 wherein the awarding incentives step furthercomprises the step of reporting the cumulative credits assigned to theperson.
 29. The method of claim 28 wherein the reporting step comprisesthe step of reporting on-line the cumulative credits assigned to theperson.
 30. The method of claim 28 wherein the reporting step comprisesthe step of reporting in a hard copy format the cumulative creditsassigned to the person.
 31. The method of claim 28 wherein the reportingstep comprises the step of reporting a cumulative total pending creditsassigned to the person.
 32. The method of claim 28 wherein the reportingstep comprises the step of reporting a cumulative total redeemablecredits assigned to the person.
 33. The method of claim 21 wherein theassigning step comprises the step of assigning the credits to the personbased upon the monetary value of the travel-related reservation.
 34. Themethod of claim 21 wherein the assigning step comprises the step ofidentifying on-line whether the person has previously received credits.35. The method of claim 21 wherein the assigning step comprises the stepof assigning bonus credits to the person based upon a predeterminedactivity in conjunction with the travel-related reservation.
 36. Themethod of claim 35 wherein the assigning step comprises the step ofassigning the bonus credits to the person based upon one or more of thefollowing: a product booked by the person; lodging booked by the person;when the person books the travel-related reservation; when a customerwho requested the travel-related reservation uses the travel-relatedreservation; how the customer pays for the travel-related reservation;how the customer guarantees the travel-related reservation; a class ofthe customer; or a class of the person.
 37. The method of claim 21wherein the receiving a code step comprises the step of receiving acharacter string identifying the person.
 38. The method of claim 21wherein the specifying an identification step comprises the step oflinking the code to an identifier for an agency which engages theperson.
 39. The method of claim 21 wherein the assigning step comprisesthe step of modifying the credits in response to adjustment orcancellation of the travel-related reservation.
 40. The method of claim21 wherein the assigning step comprises the step of storing a cumulativenumber of credits assigned to the person following entry of thetravel-related reservation.